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Blizzard Entertainment
|fgcolor= |image=BlizzardEnt.jpg |imgsize=250px |race1= |race2= |type=Computer and video game publisher |founding= |constitution= |leader=J. Allen Brack |headofstate= |headofgov= |commander= |defacto=Activision Blizzard |executive= |legislative= |judicial= |affiliation=Vivendi Universal (formerly) Activision Blizzard |strength=Over 3,900 employees (October 2014)2014-10-03, THE THREE LIVES OF BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT. Polygon, accessed on 2014-10-04 |special= |capital=Irvine, California, USA, Earth |language=English |currency=US Dollar |holiday= |formed= |established=February 1991 (as Silicon & Synapse) |fragmented= |reorganized= |dissolved= |restored= |status=Active }} Blizzard Entertainment® is the company that created the internationally renowned Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo series of gaming software. Organization Since the early 2000s, Blizzard's development staff is divided into numerically-designated team, each in accordance with a specific game (e.g. Team 1 has focused on StarCraft II). The company also employs "strike teams" who move from project to project to offer feedback. This also ensures some coherency exists between the development staff and the company's culture remains intact. A "design council" also exists which is a gathering of all of the game directors and lead designers throughout the company. The existence of strike teams dates back to the development of Diablo II.2015-09-13, Page 3: In Their Own Words: An Oral History of Diablo II With David Brevik, Max Schaefer, and Erich Schaefer. US Gamer, accessed on 2015-09-15 As of August 2017, most of Blizzard's development focus is on supporting its existing IPs, but has a "pipleine" of new IPs.2017-08-04, Blizzard Has Multiple New IPs Incubating But Won't Rush Them Out. GameSpot, accessed on 2017-08-05 Currently, Blizzard's model is to continue support for existing IPs with its existing teams. As the teams grow in size, they will be 'spun off' to work on new IPs as a separate team.2018-11-08, Our Full BlizzCon Interview With Blizzard Co-Founder Allen Adham. Game Informer, accessed on 2018-11-19 Core Values Blizzard Entertainment lists its eight core values on their mission statement page: # Gameplay first # Commit to quality # Play nice; play fair # Embrace your inner geek # Every voice matters # Think globally # Lead responsibly # Learn and growMission Statement. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2009-11-16. History Blizzard turned 20 years old in 2012. Its history is recorded on a timeline on its own site here.Blizzard Timeline. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2012-07-05. Chris Metzen has expressed the idea that Blizzard has had at least two distinct eras (pre and post-''World of Warcraft) and a third area has begun with the development of smaller games.2014-10-03, THE THREE LIVES OF BLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT. ''Polygon, accessed on 2014-10-04 Relationship with Activision Blizzard Vivendi Games, the former publisher for Blizzard Entertainment, was the majority shareholder of Activision Blizzard.Brendan Sinclair. 2007-12-03. Activision, Vivendi merger reaps positive reactions. Gamespot. Accessed 2008-11-28. In 2007, almost no change was expected at Blizzard Entertainment, and it and Activision were planned continue to exist as separate entitites.Activision Blizzard FAQ Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. will remain as Blizzard's brand.Ordinn. 2007-12-02. 0. Activision Blizzard FAQ . WoW General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2007-12-02 2018-11-22, The Past, Present, And Future Of Diablo. Kotaku, accessed on 2018-11-22 For much of the decade that followed, Activision and Blizzard effectively remained separate entities. However, in the years leading up to 2018, Activision has reportedly begun to exert more influence over Blizzard, including the sale of Activision games in the Blizzard store. (Former) staff members have expressed concerns over the level of Activision's influence and cultural shifts within the company. Conferences Blizzard Entertainment has conferences for Blizzard announcements and demonstrations, known as the Blizzard Entertainment World Wide Invitational and BlizzCon. The first WWI was held in Seoul, South Korea on May 19 and 20, 2007 when Blizzard officially announced StarCraft II. Paris, France hosted the second Invitational on June 28 and 29, 2008.Worldwide Invitation 2008 Blizzard Games Released *1991 - RPM Racing *1992 - J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I (Amiga port) *1992 - Battle Chess II: Chinese Chess (Amiga port) *1992 - Castles (Amiga port) *1992 - Battle Chess (Windows port) *1992 - MicroLeague Baseball (Amiga port) *1992 - Lexi-Cross (Macintosh port) *1992 - Dvorak on Typing (Macintosh port) *1992 - The Lost Vikings *1993 - Rock N' Roll Racing *1993 - Shanghai II: Dragon's Eye *1994 - Blackthorne *1994 - The Death and Return of Superman *1994 - The Lost Vikings 2 (SNES version) *1994 - Warcraft: Orcs & Humans *1995 - Justice League Task Force *1995 - Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness *1996 - Warcraft II: Beyond the Dark Portal *1996 - Diablo *1997 - Warcraft II: The Dark Saga *1998 - Diablo (PSX version) *1998 - StarCraft *1998 - StarCraft: Brood War *1999 - Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition *2000 - StarCraft 64 *2000 - Diablo II *2001 - Diablo II: Lord of Destruction *2002 - Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos *2003 - Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne *2004 - World of Warcraft *2007 - World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade *2008 - World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King *2010 - StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty *2010 - World of Warcraft: Cataclysm *2012 - Diablo III *2012 - World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria *2013 - StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm *2013 - Diablo III (console version) *2013 - Blackthorne (PC download) *2014 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft *2014 - Diablo III: Reaper of Souls *2014 - The Lost Vikings (PC download) *2014 - Rock n' Roll Racing (PC download) *2014 - Curse of Naxxramas: A Hearthstone Adventure *2014 - Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition *2014 - World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor *2014 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: Goblins vs. Gnomes *2015 - Blackrock Mountain: A Hearthstone Adventure *2015 - Heroes of the Storm *2015 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: The Grand Tournament *2015 - StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void *2015 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: The League of Explorers *2016 - StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops (part 1) *2016 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: Whispers of the Old Gods *2016 - Overwatch *2016 - StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops (part 2) *2016 - Hearthstone: One Night in Karazhan *2016 - World of Warcraft: Legion *2016 - StarCraft II: Nova Covert Ops (part 3) *2016 - Hearthstone: Mean Streets of Gadgetzan *2017 - Hearthstone: Journey to Un'Goro *2017 - Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft: Knights of the Frozen Throne *2017 - StarCraft: Remastered *2017 - Hearthstone: Kobolds and Catacombs *2018 - Hearthstone: The Witchwood *2018 - Hearthstone: The Boomsday Project *2018 - World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth *2019 - Hearthstone: Rastakhan's Rumble *2019 - Hearthstone: Rise of Shadows *2019 - Hearthstone: Saviors of Uldum *2019 - Hearthstone: Descent of Dragons In Development *''Warcraft III: Reforged'' (2020) *''World of Warcraft: Shadowlands'' (2020) *''Diablo Immortal'' (TBA) *''Diablo IV'' (TBA) *''Overwatch 2'' (TBA) *''Untitled first-person game'' (TBA)November, 2016, Blizzard Working on New First Person Game. Gamerant, accessed on 2016-12-01 *''Untitled Warcraft mobile augmented reality location-based game'' (TBA)2018-11-22, The Past, Present, And Future Of Diablo. Kotaku, accessed on 2018-11-22 *''Untitled Warcraft MMORTS2017-09-27, Breaking: Blizzard Unannounced Game is a MMO RTS Mobile Game. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2017-10-06 mobile game''2017-06-16, Blizzard’s Unannounced Warcraft Mobile Game. Blizzplanet, accessed on 2017-06-19 Unreleased About 50% of all Blizzard games have been cancelled during development. *''Ares'' (StarCraft first person shooter, canceled to shift development to Overwatch and Diablo projects) *''Bloodlines'' (concepts later used for StarCraft) *''Crixa'' (2D shooter)2014-11-23, A brief history of Blizzard's canceled and unreleased games. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2014-09-24 *''Crossroads'' (cancelled MMO)2017-05-11, BlizzCon 2017: How Overwatch rose from Titan’s failure. Blizzard Watch, accessed on 2017-11-05 *''Denizen''2008-02-07, D.I.C.E. '08: Blizzard talks about blowing up. Gamespot, accessed on 2013-05-29 *''Diablo II: Salvation'' (trademark patented in 2001) *''Diablo III: The King in the North'' (canceled second expansion for Diablo III) *''Diablo Junior'' (intended for the Gameboy Color, scrapped due to production costs)2012-10-12, Blizzard North considered making Diablo Junior for the Game Boy Color. Joystiq, accessed on 2013-05-29 *''Diablo MMO'' (dropped concept) *''Games People Play'' (crossword puzzles, boggle, and other word games)Blizzard Entertainment Inc., Moby Games. Accessed on 2013-05-28 *''Hades'' (cancelled Diablo game) *''Nomad'' (canceled in favor of World of Warcraft) *''Pax Imperia II'' (rights sold to THQ, later released as Pax Emperia: Eminent Domain)JudgeHype, Pax Imperia II. Accessed on 2013-05-28 *''Raiko'' *''Ronin''2013-02-4, The Art of Blizzard Entertainment (book) review…. Inside the Box, accessed on 2013-05-28 *''Shattered Nations'' (canceled in favor of StarCraft) *''Starblo'' (ARPG in a sci-fi setting)2012-10-23, Diablo in space? Blizzard actually worked on "Starblo". Neowin.net, accessed on 2013-05-29 *''StarCraft MMO'' (dropped concept) *''StarCraft: Ghost'' (indefinitely postponed on March 24, 2006) *''Titan'' (canceled on September 23, 2014)2014-09-23, Blizzard cancels its next-gen MMO Titan after seven years. Polygon, accessed on 2014-09-24 *''Untitled mobile game''Sources: Blizzard Cancels StarCraft First-Person Shooter To Focus On Diablo 4 And Overwatch 2 Kotaku.com 06-6-2019 *''Untitled pirate-themed ARPG'' (canceled after 1 year of development)2016-01-09, Marvel Heroes 2015 (January 8 2016). YouTube, accessed on 2016-01-11 *''Untitled game directed by Michael Booth'' (abandoned by June, 2015)2015-07-31, THE UNSOLVED MYSTERY OF MIKE BOOTH. Blizzpro, accessed on 2015-08-01 *''Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans'' (canceled on May 22, 1998) *''Warcraft Legends'' (cancelled RPG, elements re-used in Warcraft III) *''Warcraft: Orcs and Humans'' port/remake (TBA)2013-11-10, Blizzard Working On Bringing Warcraft & Warcraft II To Modern PCs. Gameinformer, accessed on 2013-12-11 (apparently cancelled as of November, 2016)2016-11-10, Blizzard Shuts Down The Idea Of Remaking Early Warcraft Games. iTech Post, accessed on 2016-12-01 *''Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness'' port/remake (TBA) (apprently cancelled as of November, 2016) *''Warcraft IV'' (mentioned in 2008,2008, Warcraft IV Confirmed, Starcraft II to be split into a Trilogy. NG4, accessed on 2013-05-292011-10-08, Warcraft IV somewhat confirmed at BlizzCon. SK Gaming, accessed on 2013-05-29 confirmed to not be in development as of 2013)2013-11-15. Blizz On World Of Warcraft’s Procedural Future, Warcraft IV. Rock, Paper, Shotgun, accessed on 2014-04-09 *''World of Warcraft II'' (under consideration as of 2004)2014-08-11, Blizzard Has Considered WoW 2 -- What Would You Like to See?. Gamespot, accessed on 2014-08-16 Blizzard Employees :Main article: Blizzard personnel Notable Blizzard Entertainment employees include(d): *Allen Adham (vice president and co-founder) *J. Allen Brack (current president) *Greg Canessa (battle.net 2.0 project coordinator)Blizzard Entertainment staff, Greg Canessa. 2010-02-009. Battle.net Preview. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2010-02-09. *Andy Chambers (creative director) *Dustin Browder (lead designer of StarCraft II, retired) *Samwise Didier (art director) *David Kim (balance designer) *Brian T. Kindregan (lead writer) *Chris Metzen (retired vice president of creative development) *Michael Morhaime (former president and co-founder) *Rob Pardo (vice president of game design, formerly) *Frank Pearce (vice president and co-founder) *Matt Samia (senior director of cinematics) *Robert "the Voice" Simpson (esports coordinator)Blizzcon Video Archive (Sonkie vs Yellow). Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2008-10-19. *Brian Sousa (senior 3D artist for StarCraft II, formerly) *Kevin Yu, aka Karune (battle.net representative) References * StarCraft II homepage at Blizzard Entertainment * StarCraft homepage at Blizzard Entertainment * Battle.net StarCraft Compendium es:Blizzard Entertainment Category:Blizzard Entertainment Category:Developers